Friends in Need

Only weeks ago, Costa Mesa High School student Galel Fajardo was vacationing in Honduras, driving down roads lined by lush forests to visit little pueblos and relax with his grandfather, aunts, uncles and cousins.

So watching the torment wreaked on that nation as thousands drowned in floods caused by Hurricane Mitch was heartbreaking, the 15-year-old said.

“It was just terrible. I’d see something on TV and say, ‘Wait a minute. I just saw that. That’s not how it looked.’ ”

The devastation spurred him to action.

On Tuesday, Fajardo, the school’s student body president, began his relief efforts at Costa Mesa High. By the end of the week, what began as a school-based food and clothing drive had spread throughout the county.

“The response has been overwhelming,” Fajardo said. “I thought maybe the school would help, but I had no idea it would be this huge. We’ve had people nonstop bringing things in.”

The student council office is overflowing with baby formula, canned food, bottled water, clothing and other items. Promises of tents, flashlights and first-aid kits have flowed in from individuals, agencies and companies.

His effort is one of numerous relief projects mounted by concerned residents in Southern California cities and throughout the nation and the world as the shocking toll of human loss levels off. At least 8,000 people have died and 6,500 more are missing.

Though Fajardo was born in the United States, his roots in Central America are deep. A great uncle, Carlos Roberto Reina, is the immediate past president of Honduras.

Between a morning physics test, afternoon yearbook session and after-school baseball practice, Fajardo manned the phones Friday in the student council office and directed the steady flow of donations.

He worked in concert with the Orange County branch of the American Red Cross, referring monetary donations to the agency, which, in turn, referred donated goods to Fajardo.

“We find that a lot of students, be it high school or grammar school, see the images on TV and they are moved,” said Judy Iannacone a spokeswoman for the Red Cross.

“In this particular young man’s case, he feels personally impacted by this tragedy, but also our experience is that our leaders of tomorrow already are leaders today,” she said.

The Red Cross has received hundreds of phone calls daily from people wanting to help the hurricane survivors, she said.

“Our phone lines have been jammed. Everybody in our organization is taking calls from the public,” Iannacone said. “What’s happening may be a little distant from us, but people feel so much pain that they want to give from their hearts.”

So far the local Red Cross chapter has received $18,000 in relief donations, she said.

Fajardo’s endeavor has become a safety valve of sorts as people determined to send goods to Central America find the Red Cross unwilling to accept anything but money at this point.

“The reality is that we need to get money to them as quickly as we can. And with the transportation infrastructure gone in the country, the best way for people to help through us is with a financial donation,” Iannacone said.

William J. Howard of Coto de Caza dropped off a box of underwear, pants and other clothing at Fajardo’s high school Friday morning.

“My wife and I just felt sorry for the people, so we got some T-shirts, underwear, pants and shoes and clothes so they can outfit some families,’ Howard said.

Donors to the Costa Mesa High undertaking include the Lindora Medical Clinics, weight loss centers in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Each year, the clinics hold clothing drives before the holidays, asking clients to donate clothing that has no longer fits their thinner frames.

“I have a friend, and her family is there, so I’ve known about the devastation personally. And then we heard about Galel,” said Lindora president Cynthia Stamper-Graff.

Clothing can be donated to any one of the clinic’s 31 locations until Nov. 18. Then the clothes will be taken to the high school and forwarded, along with the canned goods and other items, to the Honduran Consulate in Los Angeles.

Arrangements are being made to send the food by aircraft and the clothing by ship to Puerto Cortez in Honduras, Fajardo said.

In Santa Ana, a relief effort aimed at helping Nicaragua recover from the floods also is underway.

Dentist Sergio Moncada said he was asked by the Nicaraguan Consulate in Los Angeles to help collect donations pouring in for that country. Moncada is from northern Nicaragua, the hardest-hit area in that country.

He said he has set up a network of homes, offices and warehouse space to receive donations.

“People have been very generous,” Moncada said. “A lot of my own patients will ask what are all the boxes in my office. Then they come back later in the afternoon with stuff that I can send.

“It’s tough to know that the people from the area where you are from are having these types of problems,” Moncada said. “I look at the news and I’m amazed, I just see more and more death.”

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To contribute to relief efforts, call or visit:

* The American Red Cross, (714) 835-5381

* Galel Fajardo at Costa Mesa High School, (714) 424-8753.

* Dr. Sergio Moncada, 2227 W. First Street, (714) 547-2814.

* Honduras Consulate, 660 S. Bonnie Brae St., Los Angeles 90057, (213) 483-1244

* Nicaragua Consulate, accepting donations at Cordoba Electronics, 5120 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles 90029, (213) 669-1028.